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tv   The Rachel Maddow Show  MSNBC  March 21, 2013 6:00pm-7:00pm PDT

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identified with the vulnerable but that you were so motivated yourself you dug into your own pocket and came up with the money to generate enough capital to buy this house because you were so moved. what is it about this young man's protest and the story of this church that really got you going? >> as i just said, our charity does many things. we always wanted to get into the equality movement. when the opportunity arose we said, why not. we figured it would be a good way to launch our program. as i said before, roughly 4,000 kids kill themselves every year and 50 kids everyday try to commit suicide because of the message out there telling them they're not good enough. we just want to change that message, what this is simply about. through donations that come in, we plan on putting those into anti-bullying programs throughout the nation. creating and sustaining and supporting existing anti-bullying programs. >> what is this value of having
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that house painted with that gay pride sign and symbol, signifying to not only the church across the street but to the world? >> yeah. as i said, they're the poster child of hate. we just wanted to show our pride and send a wave around the world, we can't be more excited about that. it's been such a moving experience to be a part of this. >> what have your interactions with the phelps been like? what's it like to have them as neighbors? >> i've run into them a couple times before we painted the house. before we did this we kept this on the down low and did not want the city to find out what we were doing and did not want the phelps to find out what we were doing. shirley did come over the day we were painting and we asked her
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what she thinks of the color and she said she loved the color and we're very happy she loves our color schemes. >> thank you so much. i'm in for ed schultz and now for the woman who brings the pot at the end of the rainbow. >> that makes me feel positively leprechaunish. thank you. i am a little hoarse and have a little cold and i hope you stick with me as if i were not any horse but your favorite pony. we have a lot to get to in the show tonight. this is a news day with a lot going on. we left with a crime in colorado. news of the murder of the corrections chief in that state. he was shot dead in his home hours before the colorado governor signed into law that state's historic new gun legislation. the there's new information into the killing of that state's prison chief and those details coming
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up just ahead. on president obama's trip to israel. today was big speech day, highly anticipated, very warmly received, particularly the part he went off script and surprised everyone. we will have details on that coming up. in washington tonight, the congress packed up and went home. they are taking two weeks off as of tonight. nice work if you can get it, right? before they left, they passed a spending bill that will avoid the threat of a government shutdown next week. not shutting down the whole federal government used to be the kind of thing you could reasonably expect from your congress, the kind of thing they get done as a matter of course. under house speaker john boehner, not shutting down the government has become a notable achievement for this congress. mozle top on that. a low bar. house republicans also voted today again for the paul ryan budget. democrats are very excited about that because they plan to use that vote against republicans in campaign ads for the next election. we have the one and only ezra
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klein here momentarily to sort out what's important about what they just voted on in congress and whether we just avoided one of the cliff slash ceilings clash crisis congress now schedules for us every few weeks and whether the way they avoided this next one is itself important. there's a lot going on in the news. we have a lot ahead. we begin tonight with late breaking and rather surprising news from the democratic leader in the senate, senator harry reid. following two days of angry response from california senator dianne feinstein, she had been very publicly disappointed and angry harry reid was not going move her assault weapons ban to the senate floor as part of the democrats gun reform package. after two days of defiant reaction from senator dianne feinstein and supporters of gun reform and vice president biden made an appearance with mayor michael bloomberg demanding the assault weapons ban gets a vote and neither he or the president
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will rest until these measures are pursued, tonight, senator harry reid responded saying i will ensure a ban on assault weapons and limits on high capacity magazines receive votes. he also announced he would start the process of moving gun reform legislation to the floor of the senate as of tonight. the exact contours of the bill are still uncertain, including the question of what's going to end up in the base bill and acted on in the form of amendments and when the actual voting will begin given he started the process tonight. the statement from harry reid tonight was very clear on one policy change in particular. he said quote any bill that passes the senate must include background checks. universal background checks for gun buyers are not only among the most popular gun reforms in the country, with over 90% support in many national polls, background checks for people buying guns are among the most popular policies of any kind in the country. gun related or not. it is remarkable to think that
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something with 91%, 92% popular support might be too controversial to get any republican senators votes but right now it is still an open question whether republicans will vote for it. if it does pass the senate, if it passes the senate, is there the question whether it can pass the house. the house is controlled by republicans. do republicans in the house support universal background checks the way that 91% of the country does? do house republicans supreme court background checks? maybe. sort of. at least for a second, it seems like they did. >> do you think background check, improving background checks might be part of that? >> they should actually do a real background check on everyone. >> holy cow. omg, right? that this is position held by 91%, 92% of the country. so it shouldn't be that remarkable. but learning that the republican speaker of the house is in favor of doing a real background check on everyone, as he said, that
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seems like news, right? that seems like a breakthrough. that would mean if it does pass the senate, when it gets to the house under john boehner, it might pass. we might get real background checks for everyone buying a gun. that's what he said he favors, right? a real background check on everyone. except right after he said that, then he said that's not really what he favors. >> now, what the speaker meant by that, i should say, i had to go back to his office and say, is he coming out in favor of an improved background system. no. >> no? so that is what he said, but that's not what he wants to have said. he maybe forget for a second there what his actual policy position is supposed to be on this issue. his office had to clarify what he said when he said he wants background checks is not actually what he believes. that's not the policy he supports even though he said he did. john boehner is not alone. in having this specific kind of problem in public. you may have also seen today the
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republican governor of ohio just came out in favor of civil unions for gay people. he did do that. he said he was in favor of civil unions for gay people. just as republican house speaker john boehner came out in favor of background checks for a second and he had to take it back. today when ohio governor john kasich came out in favor of civil unions, it was only for a second and he had to take it back. >> if people want to have civil unions and transfer resources, i'm for that. i think marriage is between a man and woman. if you want to have a civil union, that's fine with me. >> if you want to have a civil union, that's fine with me. interviewing john kasich about his views on gay rights. this is a very relevant issue in ohio republican politics because ohio senator ron portman just changed his position to be in favor of gay marriage now because he has a gay son. he told this interviewer he has talked to senator portman about the issue, he does not share
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senator portman's view gay people ought to have equal marriage rights but he is fine with civil union, except he is apparently not fine with civil unions. he forgot he is actually against them. his office followed up with a statement that said the governor does not actually mean it. quote he may have used the term "civil union" loose lin this instance. the governor's position is unchanged. he gay marriage and changing ohio's constitution to allow for civil unions. ohio republicans banned civil unions for gay people in 2004 and john kasich supports that ban. when he said today quote if you want to have a civil union that's fine with me. he did not mean it. he forgot he doesn't actually believe that. his office had to clean it up and remind him he is actually way more anti-gay than he thinks he is. he had to take back his statement. this happens in republican politics a lot. remember in the presidential
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campaign, this used to happen to mitt romney all the time. the worst one was that cnbc interview he did with scott pelley. >> my position has been clear throughout this campaign. i'm in favor of abortion being legal in the case of rape and incest and the health and life of the me ovother. >> rape and incest and health and life of the mother, except that's not supposed to be his position. he forgot what his actual position was. his campaign that to clean it up for him. the romney campaign will not say the candidate misspoke but a spokeswoman said he does not actually support an exception for the health of the woman. mr. romney did not misspeak, he just speaked something that missed what the he actually meant. it was also the time at a town hall debate and mr. romney was horrified by the whole idea of. >> it i don't believe employers should tell someone whether they should have contraceptive care
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or not. >> at the time, seemed like quite a relief. all these republicans support it. mitt romney does not support the blunt amendment to let your employer decide whether you kca provide contraceptives. the problem is he forgot athat e supports the blunt amendment. that was supposed to be his position. >> of course i support the blunt amendment. remember the statement, he is not pushing up daisy's, he is dead. your employer deciding whether you can get contraceptives. he forgot. sounds awful when you put it that way. senator rand paul is in the mid of a screw-up right now. he wants to be seen as a libertarian but also want to be taken seriously in republican politics and republican politics are rather extremely anti-abortion right now. rand paul wants to be seen as
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small government guy but wants a government big enough to monitor every single pregnancy in the country to force all american women into the government's chosen outcome for their pregnancy. you don't get to decide about your pregnancy, the government gets to decide. rand paul has introduced personhood legislation that would ban all abortions in america federally. it would also likely ban some forms of hormonal birth control, like the pill and even invitro fertilization. under his bill, you would have no choice, no exception, you get no say, the government decides, rand paul will decide for you. but then when rand paul was asked about that policy of his this week in an interview he reacted by saying essentially, that sounds horrible. i don't believe that. yes, senator, yes, actually you do. >> sir, just to be precise, if you believe life begins at conception i suspect you do believe that, you would have no exceptions for rape, incest, the
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life of the mother, is that right? >> well, i think that once again puts things in too small of a box. what i would say is there are thousands of exceptions. there are a lot of decisions that are made privately by families and their doctors the law won't apply to. >> it sounds like you believe in some exceptions? >> well, there's going to be, like i say, thousands of extraneous situations, where the life of the mother is involved and other things that are involved, so i would say that each individual case would have to be addressed. >> each individual case decided privately by families and their doctors instead of a government imposed policy that gives you no choice in the matter and doesn't take into account your individual circumstances. people who support that are called pro-choice. that's what most americans believe. you, senator, on the other hand, your policy is the opposite of that. did you forget? i know it sounds awful but it is what you are doing, what all of
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you guys are doing. rand paul, you are for banning abortion without exceptions federally. mitt romney, you're for the blunt amendment. john kasich, you're actually against civil unions. john boehner, you don't want background checks for gun buyers after all even though none of you really seem to believe that's what you're supposed to believe. why does this happen so much in republican politics and how does the other party or country at large argue policy with a party that so often does not seem know what their policy positions are let alone actually believe in them. joining us is ezra klein, msnbc policy analyst. thanks for being here. >> good to see you, rachel. >> occasionally republicans do not just talk about policy and get confused therein. occasionally they make policy the case with a big spending bill they left wifor the government shutdown they left for the president to sign today. is there something in policies they do enact that show they do
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understand those policies and believe in them more than this other stuff they seem to not even really understand? >> there are a couple of constants. lower taxes on rich people, not lower taxes for everybody, right? they don't like taxes, but letting the payroll tax cut expire was in fact their policy. lower taxes in general. lower taxes on richer wealthier americans. cutting social programs. entitlements they go back and forth. medicare they go back and forth. you remember mitt romney and paul ryan ran in the election as they were going to stop the democrats terrible intention to cut medicare, then paul ryan got back winto the house and writin a budget he kept all those cuts and added new ones and had more added into this is program. the real shock in recent weeks or real frustration trying to cov covers the budget debates. republicans cover five issues, they want to cut the democrbudg
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deficits and cut defense spending and simplify the tax code and lower tax rates. in a deal with president obama they could get the first four, more deficit reduction, protect defense, the democratic president would get some cover in cutting medicare and social security and they could simplify the tax code by taking out expenditures. they are now saying they want none of those things and also not going to get the tax rates and keep the sequester and not have a deal. i've asked a lot of them to walk me through the reasoning here and honestly never come to an answer i understand a little bit. >> does that mean they're post policy. even some things that seem like constants don't actually a matter them, it's pure politics, just positioning themselves v a vis-a-vis the president and not interested in a particular outcome for the country? >> i would like to have an answer where that isn't true. i really would. i've been trying to find it.
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i'm sure part is i'm not smart enough to do so or found the right people to have spoken to them. it's hard to come up with one. we can go back today, earlier michele bachmann on the floor of the house saying obama-care is going to kill women and children and senior citizens. the real assault on the constitution was, of course, created by republicans, the heritage foundation in '89 wroug brought in the center alternative to the bill passed by mitt romney and endorsed by jim demint in 2008 and as soon as president obama took it up, they turned on it right there. the power the president has decide writing republicans will be that next day or next week or next month is enormous and deeply depressing. >> i feel like looking at freudian slips in social policies or policies that aren't as central to their agenda in washington is actually an important window into them not
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really being invested into policy at all. i think the republican party is really going to reinvent itself, messa messaging isn't the key part of it. being rooted in policies for the country. >> ezra, msnbc analyst, thank you. >> thanks. president obama gave a big, very highly anticipated speech in jerusalem today. while he was in jerusalem he got a major award. the way the american news media covered that moment will be the most amazing picture you see today. that is next. today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines
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day two of president obama's trip to the middle east was dramatic day. president obama gave a rousing speech in jerusalem, a speech in which he was heckled, a speech he went off script and made rather blunt and surprising comments and did not speak the way politicians usually speak particularly in that part of the world. more in a moment. president obama also received the israeli medal of decision, the highest honor the israeli government bestows upon civilians. a dignified and serious occasion. we will have for you a side note to that dignified and serious occasion we will show you in a moment that will make you stair at your television, put your head in your hands and swear to yourself quietly. today began with president obama visiting the dead sea scrolls with prime minister benjamin
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netanyahu and visited a tex sch show where israeli engineers showed them a snake-like contraption that shgoes in smal spaces and shows them what's going on in those small spaces. and he visited the and met with palestinian president abbas. that was all by lunchtime and then spoke at a convention center before an audience of more than 2,000 israelis. most of the audience was made up of college students but government officials and civil leaders in the audience. shortly after beginning his remarks, the president as i mentioned was heckled. he responded by saying the heckler made him feel right at home. one advantage of having, you lie, screamed at you during a
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speech during congress is heckling probably never rattles you again. the crowd give him standing ovation in response to the heckler and cheered with approval at this point in the speech. >> make no mistake, those who adhere to the ideologically of rejecting israel's right to exist, they might as well reject the earth beneath them or sky above because israel's not going anywher anywhere. >> it makes sense that these young israelis would be so appreciative of america's president making such strong statements in support of their state. israel is surrounded by hostile regimes and israelis and palestinians have been engaged in a half century of conflict and fighting and violence and makes sense this audience would want to hear the president of the most powerful nation on earth pledge support to israel
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in such certain terms. the moment in the speech that really stood out not just because of what the president said but how the crowd reacted to what he said the moment that really stood out i think will most be remembered is this one. watch this. >> i'm going off script her for a second, but before i -- before i came here, i met with a group of young palestinians from the age of 15 to 22. and talking to them, they weren't that different from my daughters. they weren't that different from your daughters. or sons. i honestly believe that if -- if any israel parent sat down with those kids, they'd say, i want these kids to succeed. i want them to prosper. i want them to have opportunities just like my kids do. i believe that's what israeli
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parents would want for these kids if they had chance to listen to them and talk to them. i believe that. >> president obama asking israelis to put themselves in palestinians' shoes, look at the world through their eyes. that is not an easy ask for either side of the conflict, right? those were the words he used. he said it was not fair on point today that a palestinian child cannot grow up in a state of his or her own. he called for peace as a means toward not just political stability but economic stability. the israeli audience cheered and applauded throughout those remarks and gave him a giant sustained standing ovation at the end. do you ever feel the conversation over there about the conflict they're living through is more nuanced and even more sane than the conversation over here about what they're
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live through. after that big speech so well received by that huge israeli audience in jerusalem, president obama was honored at state dinner, awarded the israeli medal of distinction the highest honor a civilian can receive in israel. he is the first sitting president to receive this award. simone perez said the people of israel are particularly moved by your contribution to their security. he called the president dear barack. that's what was happening live in israel. here at home, this is what the coverage of that event looked like in the cable news-a sphere. cnn and msnbc are showing it live showing the president of the united states receiving this medal at a big state dinner in this country. the fox news channel pretending it is not happening. talking about repealing obama-care instead. this is what the three cable news networks looked like in snapshot at 2:24 p.m.
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i know that because this news media was going on and on the wall there was the live feed of the three networks at precisely 2:24 p.m. this afternoon. we're all watching as the israel president is trying president obama i know you will never stop striving for a better world. as he was speaking those very words live, as seen on msnbc and cnn, what was running on fox news instead was a commercial for their new special on president obama as an enemy of israel. that is the ad they're running instead of the live feed of the government of israel giving president obama the highest honor a civilian can receive from the israeli government. seriously! you want to see what they were running? you know you do. watch. >> the state of israel will have no greater friend than the united states. >> but with a friend like obama, are israel's enemies gaining strength? sean gets extra insight on a special hannity.
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>> ah! that is what fox news was telling its audience of american conservatives instead of showing this happening in israel in real life in the actual world at that very moment. they report, you decide. just amazing. we're in los angeles with the bing it on challenge to show google users what they've been missing on bing. let's bing it on. [fight bell: ding, ding] how many here are google users? what if i was to tell you that you would actually like bing way more than google when it came to the results? prove it. let's look up some taco places. i like the left side.
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we have the interview coming up and among the more disturbing gun crimes in our country recently was the murder of
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colorado's head of department of corrections. he was shot in cold blood when he answered his front door tuesday night. at the moment, no known motive for this killing but the political backdrop in colorado and crime story incidental to the murder have made this both a fascinating and important story right now. we have new details ahead. stay with us. if youthen this willbrids arbe a nice surprise. meet the 5-passenger ford c-max hybrid. c-max come. c-max go. c-max give a ride to everyone it knows. c max has more passenger volume than competitor prius v and we haven't even mentioned... c-max also gets better mpg. say hi to the super fuel efficient ford c-max hybrid.
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are you familiar with the fine art of dog shaming? dogs do naughty dog things and their owners who love them write out their crime on placard of some kind and make their dog pose with it. they run the gamut of eating a forbidden food to making a mess with food to eating another animal's food, to hidining thin. i hid meat in the couch. also, destroying something of value, that's a popular one. far and away the most popular reason dogs get shamed on the internet is pop related. either popping where they're not supposed to or that. the whole idea of dog shaming is adorable to the extent dogs are adorable, right? the idea is to make their mall
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fesans known, make it into a visual thing. they have a way of sticking in your head, a yourful tactic, dog-wise. right now, as we speak, veterans of our wars in iraq and afghanistan are using a very similar tactic for a much bigger deal reason. they're not dog shaming, they are va shaming. shaming the veterans administration for the jaw dropping number of days that th they, our veterans, personally or having to wait for their benefits claims to be processed. the wait is very very long. look at this. deployment to iraq, 341 days. va claim, 1,099 days. more than three years. this veteran has been waiting almost two years. this one, 584 days. this one, 366 days. these experiences these veterans and families are having are not
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outliers. the average wait time is nine months to hear back, the average. nine months to clear through the va and longer for newest veterans specifically if you fought in afghanistan and iraq. the more worrying problem about this backlog over the last few years instead of getting better this problem has gotten worst, trending in the wrong direction. this is the woman in charge of -- sorry. this is a hearing at which the va's backlog is being described. the woman in charge of managing benefits claims at the v.a. is the person who runs the veteran a veteran's benefits administration. vba. this week, they were called to testify about the insane backlog. the woman who heads the vba is called alison hickey and said her department has a plan to fix it by transitioning to an all electronic system by processing claims. >> the veterans manage many system is our processing solution. with the integration and
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portline improvements we achieved an online file capability and veterans can file a claim online. >> this goal is to fix the problem in two years. while others say they are doing the best they can and others are not satisfied. the chairman of the house committee on affairs this week called on alison hickey to resign her job. the largest organization of iraq and afghanistan veterans. iava, they have now publicly announced they want president obama to intervene and personally take charge of this problem, to appoint a presidential commission to figure out how to fix this thing. veterans with iava have spent the week this week as part of a lobbying effort they call storm the hill. their efforts this year are dedicated to one issue, ending the v.a. backlog. while a lot of americans have spent the week this week recognizing it has been 10 years since the start of the war in iraq, the people who fought that war in our name, they have had to spend this week on capitol
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hill, storming capitol hill, as they say, to try to get the things we as a country already promised them, the things we are failing miserably to deliver. joining us now for the interview is paul, executive director of iraq and africa veterans. and one service dog. they spent the day lobbying congress to end the v.a. backlog. i want to thank you all for being here tonight. good to see you all here. paul, thank you for pulling this together. i really appreciate it. >> rachel, thank you for having our platoon and thanks for the bus to get us here. >> i know you guys met with members of congress and secretary hagel, the defense secretary. i know you met with the white house chief of staff. i have to ask if you have anything concrete, anything satisfying, what has the response been like so far? >> no, we haven't gotten anything concrete. what we're really looking for is a pretty simple solution. these veterans standing behind
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me represent our national membership that cares deeply about this issue. they have come from 22 states to be here, left their families, jobs, school this week volunteering on capitol hill to send a very clear message to the president and the v.a. backlog. this has gone in long enough. in cities like new york, the wait is over 600 days. in los angeles over 600 days. in reno, nevada, close to 600 days. we know this is unacceptable. we know the american people when they hear about this feel it's unacceptable and why we have a petition and rallying this week and won't stop until it gets to zero. >> can you describe to us, put a face us to, tell us your personal experience having to wait this long. what were you waiting for and what were the consequences of you having to go through this wait? >> absolutely. thank you again for having me. i will come out publicly and say i have ptsd. something i had to come through and share my story and admit that. it's been a long hard road to
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come to that. when i finally came through to that and came from a very dark spot sometimes i really thought it wasn't worth living, i went to get help at the v.a. and was met with nothing but resistance. i cannot get the v.a. to call me back so i can file my claim and be part of the backlog because i can't get anybody to respond to me. my mental health deployments take four to five weeks to get scheduled and when scheduled and broke been in the v.a., takes another six weeks to get this. i'm fortunate. i have an amazing family and amazing wife that support mess and gets me through. there's 22 veterans everyday showing the system is not working then killing themselves. that's something we need to stop. again, i'm the fortunate one and there's a backlog that has to be ended. >> paul, let me ask you about the political response thus far. there is nobody in american politics and nobody in the press and comments on this at all who said this is okay, they think they're satisfied with the situation. everybody says something has to be done. we hear that from congress, hear
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that from the senate and v.a. itself. why are you now calling on president obama personally to get involved? you're calling for a presidential commission. why do you think that would help? >> because we're tired of the rhetoric. we need results. the only thing that matters is whether or not our veterans are getting the benefits they deserve. we don't think we should have to wait until the end of 2015 to have this system cleaned up. it's clear the v.a. can't handle it. the backlog and disability and number of claims waiting continue tops go up. the d.o.d. is part of this. we need the president to step in and fix it. put the full creativity and intelligence and power of the american public and white house behind it. we're not asking to put somebody on mars. we're asking to fix a broken paperwork process. right now, 97% of these claims are still on paper. let's go above the v.a. and above the d.o.d. and to the commander in chief and get him involved and we need him to fix it and what we told the white house and we need the american people to tell him. we have a petition on our
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website. iava.org and send a message to the president of this nation we need to end this backlog. >> thinking how we get from the widespread outrage on this now, will, let me ask you this as well, toward the kind of aim paul is talking about there, toward fixing it, when you were up on capitol hill, and you're able to meet face to face and eye-to-eye policymakers and talk to them about this, do you feel veterans being able to tell these stories personally, you being able to tell your personal story is reaching these policymakers in a way they have not been reached before? are you guys able to actually impart the necessary urgency? >> there were some meetings this week i felt my story opened some eyes and i became a face with an actual problems. there was others that gladly took the meeting, yes, but i don't feel i connected with them. that's frustrating. i'm here representing the face you read about and hear about, the neighbor and constituent and person next door that now has a
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problem calling on you to do something. for the most part we did get a lot of good reception but not enough. we need 100% backing us and ending this backlog. >> will simmons, former air force special agent. and paul, veterans of mistake and also iraq war veteran. all of you guys, i know you don't have ear pieces in. i'm sure you can hear me from there. thank you all for doing this and thank you for being with us tonight. i know it's been a very long week and very long day and finishing it tonight with us in this way means the world to us. >> thank you. it means the world us to and thank you from all of us. we appreciate it very much. >> we'll be right back. so now i can be in the scene. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator working together to help improve your lung function all day.
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here at tom clements home in colorado just before 9:00 p.m. tuesday night, witnesses described seeing a black lincoln or cadillac idling outside the victim's home a few minutes before the shooting and authorities called it a vehicle of interest. late this morning 500 miles away in texas, a deputy tried to pull
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over a man heading south in a black cadillac with colorado license plates, a routine traffic violation. the driver of the car responded by opening fire on the deputy shooting him and hitting him three times before taking off. he then sped in and out of traffic at 100 miles an hour shooting out the window of his car at the officers following him in the high speed chase. ultimately he crashed the car into an 18-wheeler. he got out, fired on the officers again, the officers returned fire and he was hit. tonight, colorado investigators are on the way to texas to determine whether that man in the high speed chase might be linked to the killing of tom kle clements, the colorado prisons chief. the man is still unidentified, in a fort worth popt and finger printed him and basically legally dead and on life support machines after being shot in the head in the shootout. the deputy he shot was wearing a
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bullet proof vest and also shot in the head and the deputy was shot in a grazing wound and expected to survive. colorado investigators will be working alongside the texas rangers. because he was the prisons chief in colorado, investigations of anything that happens within texas prison systems will be involved in the investigation now on-scene this afternoon as well making phone calls. colorado's governor has reacted to all this by saying, quote, we don't know yet exactly whether this is the guy. there is some indication. i hope it is. of course, the overall story here is still that we do not know what the motive might be for the killing of tom clements, whether it was related to his job running the prisons or to colorado state politics more broadly or to neither of those issues. tuesday night's shooting happened hours before the colorado governor was due to sign into law the hotly contested new gun reformulation that state lawmakers passed last week. governor hickenlooper announced
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the details of the murder, of the state's prison director at 8:30 a.m. local time yesterday, and then went on as scheduled later that morning to sign into law his state's new background checks legislation and a new state limit on extended magazines for ammunition and semiautomatic rifles and handguns. law enforcement sources have said there -- have not said there is any reason to connect the killing of states prisons chief to his work in the prisons or broader political issues in colorado. still, though, in response to the murder, security has been upped, both for the governor himself and for other members of the state's cabinet. now, one possible connection between tom clements' work and potentially -- murder, one potential connection, at least, getting a lot of attention in the colorado press is tom clements' direct involvement in the case of a man named ham adean al turkey almost seven years ago convicted of keeping a woman as a virtual slave in his
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house, sexually assaulting her. last week, tom clements wrote to him personally to let him know that he, tom clements, was denying his request to serve out the remainder of his sentence in saudi arabia. which is mr. al-turki's home country. today they moved him to solitary con fimt for his own protection because of the media attention on his case after mr. clements' murder. officials stress the decision was not directly related to the clements murder investigation, they say that mr. al-turki was not being punished. they say it is simply because of the publicity. it is very disturbing to have a public official murdered ever. even more unsettling, when it happens so inexplicably. when you don't know why. there is also the possibility the killing was entirely unrelated to his status as a public official. it could just have been either personal or completely random. we learned today that colorado deputies, for example, are looking into a possible link to a craigslist ad that tom clements posted on the day of the killing. they're investigating whether
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the person who shot him might have gone to his home on the pretense of buying the bicycle that was posted in the ad. the el paso county sheriff's office is reportedly checking mr. clements' cell phone records to see who he had been speaking to in the days before his death. as yet, this remains an absolutely open question. the significance of what happened hire in terms of its broader connection to politics and public policy and also just the tragedy of this death. no suspects in custody, and no word on a motive. but we will keep you posted. thank you orville and wilbur... ...amelia... neil and buzz: for teaching us that you can't create the future... by clinging to the past. and with that: you're history. instead of looking behind... delta is looking beyond. 80 thousand of us investing billions... in everything from the best experiences below...
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retty dawn does more. conservative. very logical thinker. (laughs) i'm telling you right now, the girl back at home would absolutely not have taken a zip line in the jungle. (screams) i'm really glad that girl stayed at home. vo: expedia helps 30 million travelers a month find what they're looking for. one traveler at a time. expedia. find yours. tomorrow night, right here at 9:00 p.m. eastern, instead of a normal edition of the rachel maddow show, we're reairing the msnbc documentary hubris about the selling of the iraq war. hubris is going to air at 9:00 p.m. eastern and afterwards at 10:00 p.m., it's a post hubris
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special, essentially, hosted by our own chris hayes. so 9:00 p.m. tomorrow, hubris. 10:00 p.m. is the hubris post show, including new clips that were not included in the documentary and that have never been seen before. now, we originally aired this documentary last month. it got a ton of eyeballs when we did for which we are all very grateful. it's actually the most-watched documentary on msnbc in a decade. we specifically timed the debut of the film to coincide not with the invasion of iraq, but with the selling of that invasion, the lying to the american people. that's why hubris originally aired last month, and not this week. on the anniversary of the invasion. but it turns out that hubris, having its re-air tomorrow really could not have come at a better time. because something remarkable has happened this week as the country marked the tenth anniversary of the war. this week at the ten-year mark, the folks whose idea that war was in the first place have started coming out of the woodwork to tell their side of things. not to apologize for their role in arguably the worst foreign
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policy disaster and deception in a century, but to say actually it wasn't a disaster or a decepti deception, it was a great idea and they're not sorry and everything worked out great. >> you try to do everything you can diplomatically, without resort to force, but our history is replete with examples where ultimately we had to use force. >> and the argument this was a war you wanted? >> wanted? why, because we like war? i did what i did. it's all on the public record. and i feel very good about it. if i had to do it over again, i would do it in a minute. >> i feel very good about it. what's there to feel bad about? one of dick cheney's main cohorts in selling the iraq war to the american people was this guy, deputy defense secretary paul wolfowits, her was his contribution to the discussion this